I've been reading and piping in on this site for a few months now and I finally figured out what's missing. I think that a "Deffinitions/Glossary" page would be a great asset. Maybe in a pop up type window or link so you could scan it while reading. It wouldn't have to be a perfect grammatical dictionary, but in regular (keeper) speak. It could include words such as "cichlid",as a family, plus a general description of special care or needs. What is an "isotope" or a "palidarium" or "substrate"?(I still don't know if substrate includes gravel or just the plant bedding below the gravel )

Some of you "old hacks" may think it's silly or useless, but I think the newcomers to this obsession(I refuse to call it a hobby, anymore) would find a glossary-type page quite useful. At 6+ months, I'm still in need of a simple deffinition on occation.

So, is this possible or just a passing thought? I'll end my plight an' let ya'll take'er from here. Thanks for lookin'._________________D & J

I don't think your idea is silly or useless, just a major undertaking. We'll see what Marcos says but in the meantime, you could do what I did... if you don't understand a term, do a search on About.com or if that doesn't help, then google or your preferred search engine.

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What is an "isotope" or a "palidarium" or "substrate"?(I still don't know if substrate includes gravel or just the plant bedding below the gravel icon_redface.gif )

I think you mean 'biotope' rather than 'isotope.' Here is the about.com entry on that, to give you an idea of how much info you can get from that site alone.

Looking up 'substrate' you will find the definition, which states:

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Definition: The material placed on the bottom of an aquarium tank, or any surface to which a living organism attaches itself.

I guess I should explain why I, personally, would find this useful. I got my first computer only 1 year ago. When I went to school, we didn't have computers in every classroom. I have next to no computer skills whatsoever. I can do searches, but I end up with 5 million hits that are completely unrelated to what I'm looking for. I stumbled onto this site(luckily) and have stayed here. I have no interest in going to other forums and I don't have the time or capacity as this one is the easiest to use(from what I've seen from links to other sites) and has the most info about aquariums in general. Allow me to make a simple example of how this might help:

newb; Can I put fish in my new tank?
Haname; What method did you use to cycle your tank? What are your water parameters?
newb; (To himself,"What's a cycle and what are parameters?")

Granted, If newb has comp skills, he can search "cycle+aquarium+water -motor-life-tool-apple" and hit the nail on the head. However, for someone like me, if I could go to a glossary, get a base deffinition(maybe a link as suggested by Ben) I could stop asking questions and go from there on my own.

I hope that helps. By the way, I thank you for showing me about.com. It's those little places that help me greatly._________________D & J

I understand where you're coming from. It's like any other hobby, there's a vocabulary, and it takes time to learn. It would be easier if there was a glossary on site.

One thing I have noticed here, is that many of the newcomers don't actually read the site. It's a large site and very easy to navigate, but I understand that it can take some time to get the hang of where things are. There are articles that explain important terms of the hobby. Cycling and Water Parameters, which you wrote about, are treated in depth in two articles on those subjects. If we had a 'Glossary' link, they might not find that one, either.

This Board is a place for you to improve your knowledge in a certain aspect of the hobby, not to initiate it. Before asking a question, you must at least do some preliminary research throughout this website, the internet or in books on the specific topic you wish to ask about, and then come here for further clarifications, opinions and first-hand experiences on the subject.

All that said, I completely agree that the idea of having a glossary of basic aquarium terms, with concise definitions, is a very good one. Having it will help newbies do even more of their preliminary research here onsite. One of the best things about this site is the fact that member participation is encouraged. You can write an article on any topic that seems important to you, and have it considered for publication here on the site.

Go to the Article Preparation Room, read the first post to learn the procedure, and go for it! Benedictj offered to contribute to such an article, and I would too. Why don't you go ahead and initiate it and see what we can put together?

It's very important for any "teacher" (in the general sense) to find a good balance between hand-feeding information on one side, and conveying the importance for the "learners" to do research by themselves on the other side. I myself am a major "Google" person and it takes me only 2 blinks at word or expression before I copy/paste it into the handy toolbar, and trust Google's relevance algorithm to feed me good pages among the first 10-20 results, regardless of how many millions of pages it found in total. I even use it as a spell checker...for example, I blinked twice to decide whether "algorithm" above was spelled with an I or a Y, so up it went to the Google toolbar

That said, yes it would be nice to have a Fishkeeping Jargon Glossary on the site, and I think the idea of starting a topic in the Article Preparation Room where Authors/Advisors/Mods can build it collectively and dynamically is a great idea..._________________Success with a fish/tank is measured in YEARS, not months or weeks...

OK, as happy as I would be to author or CO2-author such an article, I have no idea how I would start said article. Article prep room states that the bulk of the article must be in the first post. With my limited knowlege of the terminology myself, shy of plagerism, I simply couldn't post enough info to accommidate this. Unless someone were to guide me by the hand through the process, my submission would be minimal at best.
On the other hand, could this possibly be a direct link to another site with an existing glossary that shows on each page, such as the AquaRank link?
Tho it may seem so, I'm not trying to shrug my responsibility now that I started this. I would be happy to help any way I possibly can._________________D & J

I'll start it DJ, but will you help us put it together? You can suggest terms that you want to see defined, and also make suggestions on the definitions themselves, ensuring that they are user friendly. _________________Happy fishkeeping!

I would gladly come up with words I don't know the keeper's meaning of. Like refugium and specific gravity and shoaling and... Actually, I know shoaling now after seeing it in context enough, but someone else may not.

Thank you so much! I will keep my eyes open to the art prep room for the first post. Feel free to pm me with any additional requests in the meantime, tho I work better in the physical world than cyber world. Thanks again, to all, for your willingness to cooperate and to others who will help in the future.